Mavericks’ failed Rui Hachimura pursuit hints more questionable moves are on the way

The Dallas Mavericks showed interest in signing Rui Hachimura, but ultimately failed to lure him to Dallas, as he signed with the LA Clippers on Monday. Hachimura would've been a fine 3-point shooting addition for Dallas, but the fact that they went after him in the first place signals that Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz could have some questionable moves on deck for the Mavericks.

Dallas is overloaded on wings/forwards, and Hachimura would've only added to this conundrum if the Mavericks had been able to lure him away from LA on Monday. Sure, Dallas shouldn't care about positional overlap to a certain extent, given they likely won't be contenders next season and are building for the future around Cooper Flagg, but they don't have their first-round pick next season and need to field a somewhat competitive roster at the very least.

Of course, Dallas could always make trades before training camp or next season's trade deadline, but the current roster imbalance they have is too drastic to ignore. If they pursued Hachimura, who's to say that they aren't looking at other wings on the open market?

This is the last thing the Mavericks should be doing with the way the roster looks right now, but here we are. This could mean that more similar moves are coming, and the wing logjam could get even worse.

Dallas already has way too many wings

In terms of players that play the three or four, they have Flagg, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Morez Johnson Jr., Caleb Martin, Santi Aldama, Naji Marshall, Tyler Smith (two-way contract), Tobi Lawal (two-way contract), and potentially even Tarik Biberovic.

While it's unlikely that Biberovic will end up playing a significant role in the rotation next season, that's still 10 players who can play on the wing, and adding Hachimura would've made this 11. Ujiri was known to build rosters with the Toronto Raptors that are too wing-heavy, and Dallas going after Hachimura signals this could be the case at his new stop as well.

The Mavs need to make moves to fix this imbalance

Furthermore, Dallas has to make some trades this offseason to address this imbalance. If they had a few fewer wings, waiting until the trade deadline could be an option to address a slight positional overlap, but they need to be pushing for the playoffs next season, and the current roster doesn't have enough shot creation, shooting, and playmaking from the guard spots to make that option realistic.

It's only July 7, and there's still plenty of time left in the offseason for the Mavericks to tinker with this roster, but with huge moves happening across the league, the Mavericks have been left hanging in the dust for the most part, outside of their acquisition of Aldama. As solid as Hachimura would have been in Dallas, adding another three or four should be the last thing on the minds of this front office.

Things could get ugly if they don't balance the roster

With Washington, Marshall, Thompson, and Daniel Gafford having been in trade rumors since last season, it would be a disservice if Dallas can't deal one of them for a guard, especially since all of them are on formidable contracts.

The Mavericks are teetering on the brink of mediocrity and an unhappy locker room if they don't do something soon, as new head coach Dusty May is only going to be able to give so many minutes to certain players with the number of wings currently on the roster. He's also going to have to over-exert some of Dallas' guards as things currently stand, which is simply a recipe for disaster with Irving being 34 years old and coming off a torn ACL.

All this being said, the Mavericks have a lot to figure out before training camp starts in September or October, and if they still plan on adding a wing with the Mid-Level Exception, Ujiri and Schmitz better have some trades up their sleeves.

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